GODZILLA vs. MEGALON 1-inch Type C TV Station Library Master Tape

 

And now, at last, here is something that's been in the works for two or three years now: the one-inch television master tape for GODZILLA vs. MEGALON!

Straight from a TV station library (dated April 3, 1990), this one-inch "type C" format offers more lines of resolution than that of VHS.  This is a good thing, and it gets even better, because the production house that transferred this for me had recently re-built their equipment to include a component that cleaned the tape immediately before the conversion, ensuring the best transfer possible.  

As a result, the film looks better than any home video release up to the time! What's more, there is also an added bonus:

In addition to the film, I was saving this Super 8 conversion that the same company did for me a couple of years ago, to use as bonus material.  This is the U.S. MEGALON theatrical trailer, which was actually released by Steel Valley Film Services--probably via mail order--for the princely sum of $9.95.  While this is the same trailer you've probably seen before (that can be found on YouTube), here it serves as a great example of how much quality Super 8 can actually reproduce.  This widescreen trailer looks and sounds great.

As you can see from the artwork, the film runs 79 minutes, 19 seconds, so a thorough comparison with other released versions, especially the many VHS releases of the day, would be in order (MEGALON famously has some discrepancies, such as the opening credits for example...it always cracks me up how they pan-and-scan their way out of the nude pinups in the truck).  For now though, here it is, at long last! Enjoy!

LINK(includes film, trailer, & artwork):  

GODZILLA vs. MEGALON TV Master Tape

Announcing The Sphinx GODZILLA GUIDE VOLUME 5: U.S. Theatrical Promotional Items!

 

I lost track of how long this project took (maybe three years or so, off and on), but after a long period of concentrated effort, the entire series of Sphinx Godzilla Guides is finally complete.  

This fifth and last volume covers vintage promotional theatrical material from the original series of Godzilla films, plus GODZILLA 1985 for good measure, and because there is a huge amount of stuff for that film.

It's hard to represent this guide in a screenshot or two, but the premise was to use all of the vintage pressbooks (as we have done sporadically in this blog over the years) as a guide, and take a deep-dive look at each one of them along the way, showing all of the known materials that exist for each film. Another little-examined corner of Godzilla history is the vast amount of crazy suggestions that the various distributors made for theatre-owners to promote and exploit the film...some not even legal!

In addition, we will look at ad slicks and ad molds, radio and television spots, and any and all other ephemera produced--several films even had unique items only made for them, such as a mask, a comic book, even a safety vest in one case. We will see examples of finished ads as they ran in newspapers of the day, as well as trade ads and the occasional news stories. It's not only a fun read for the Godzilla fan, but can also serve as a checklist of sorts for the hard-core collector, as nowhere in collecting history has anything like this ever been attempted. I am not sure how interested Toho really is at preserving the history of Godzilla in America, as they seem to be extremely disorganized in their efforts, but here it all is (call me sometime, Toho; let's do lunch).

Of course, these volumes will continue to be updated as new discoveries are made, especially in the Home Video and Comics areas, which are ongoing. I'm always more than happy to receive corrections and additions for any of the volumes, and I hope they are used and enjoyed, because they will be here in perpetuity and at absolutely no cost.  Enjoy! You can download all five at the Sphinx Godzilla Guides page.

Now, on to the next large-scale project; stay tuned!

GODZILLA ON MONSTER ISLAND stand-alone ad slick (Cinema Shares, 1977)

 

More catch-up here, with a one-page, letter-sized ad slick for GODZILLA ON MONSTER ISLAND.  This came by itself, and has no staple holes, so it certainly appears to be  a stand-alone issue. Ad slicks were weird like that.

Stay tuned, because both big forthcoming announcements were each about three years in the making, so you know it's going to be good!

GODZILLA vs. THE THING stand-alone ad slick (American International, 1964)

 

A little catch up work today, as we prepare to finally release the 5th volume of the Sphinx Godzilla guide, which covers theatrical promotional material.  

Here is a stand-alone, 8.5 x 11 ad slick for GODZILLA vs. THE THING.  It is actually a variant of this one below, which I think may have come first:

American International held onto the film for a while, and offered re-releases and package deals with other features, so it's hard to know exactly what the dates of origin are.  I just know the waving Godzilla photo cracks me up.

Stay tuned, some big announcements are forthcoming...

Television Campaign Book Pages (American-International TV, late 1960's)

These were in a lot of promotional stuff I recently acquired, and were (for some reason) cut from one of AI-TV's many television campaign books, where they hyped their film libraries to local TV stations.  

Here we have a random sampling of films that you probably grew up with, on TV! I definitely remember some of these being on. 

GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS/RODAN Video Store Retail Flyer (Vestron Video, 1983)

 

You can see this one in our Guide to American Godzilla Home Video volume--which you can download for free at the link--but here is an improved scan of the real thing, which I just acquired.  This one-sided page was just one of hundreds that owners of electronics and video rental stores received in the mail constantly, and it's a wonder it was saved.  It only lists VHS and Beta versions available (eventually these titles would be offered in both laserdisc and CED format too).  Interestingly, the prices are a little weird:  if you buy one, it's $59.95, but you will get the other free if you do that, so the pair are actually $59.95.  Or, you could just buy them "individually" for $29.95....wait, didn't we just say one was $59.95? I mean, two?

Oh well, either way...these releases are extremely important, because, other than a couple of random fly-by-night, semi-legal releases of Godzilla films on home video that claim to come earlier, these are the grandparents of official Godzilla releases, and started a long, long line! The last Godzilla VHS, for example, was released in 2002.  If you are interested in this sort of thing, it's all in the guide! Stay tuned for more Godzilla goodness!

Godzilla Vintage Radio Spots Recap & Updates: The News Is Good!

 

After our recent MEGALON discovery, and two different leads to explore that were pointed out to me by kind readers, we can now re-assess the situation when it comes to vintage Godzilla radio spots.  

The good news is, all that remains to be located are three of the five GIGANTIS spots, and whatever exists for GODZILLA 1985--official or merely locally-made!

As pointed out to me, two GIGANTIS ads were played in the commentary track of the 2007 Classic Media DVD, and those have been extracted by me and added to the masterpost (links below).  The cool website https://www.zomboscloset.com/ also contains several of the radio spots that we were completely missing*, so those have all been linked to as well.  In short, both parts of the masterposts have been completely updated, so check them out! Maybe soon we will live in a world where 100% of these formerly-lost treasures have been located, and collected together in one place!

Godzilla Vintage Radio Spots: PART ONE

Godzilla Vintage Radio Spots: PART TWO

________________________________________

*And also complete sets of spots for RODAN, FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, & KING KONG ESCAPES, wow!

At Last...The GODZILLA vs. MEGALON Radio Spot! (1976)

If you've been around here very long, you may have seen me state one of my mantras: "some mysteries will be solved, but others will be created." Well, today it's time to solve one!

This mysterious, hastily-labeled box holds a rare treasure that it's been waiting for decades to give to the world!

And here it is, a five-inch, pristine reel that I firmly believe had never been used.  Look at how neatly it's wound and professionally tabbed in place...and luckily for us, the owner stored it carefully indoors for all these years.  (This is a big deal--sometimes you run across an ultra rarity like this, and it's degraded, which was the unfortunate issue with one of the two ads on my GODZILLA ON MONSTER ISLAND tape, which I restored the best I could.

In my two-part series "GODZILLA VINTAGE RADIO SPOTS: WELL, HOW MANY ARE THERE?" we looked at every existing promotional radio commercial that exists for the vintage Godzilla films [that had them].  When it came to MEGALON, however, all I could do was go by the pressbook:

And, as you can see, it tells us that one 30-second ad existed...this ad was lost to the ages...until today!

I will have to update that post, because, my friends, here it is, converted and restored to excellent quality by me, for the whole world.  

Interestingly, this is one of those ads that couldn't be bothered to take any sound effects or clips from the film itself.  Some military battle sound effects and a very strange roar will have to do.  Oh, and the narrator keeps saying "MAGALON," as you will hear.

I am proud to cross another hitherto-lost Godzilla radio spot off the want list--this is the part where I appeal to you, if you have one of the lost items referred to in the "HOW MANY ARE THERE?" posts, to not simply squirrel them away, but instead make them available and share them with the entire base of fans and collectors, just as we do here in this blog.  After all, somebody has the 10-inch record of GIGANTIS ads in their possession.  

And now, here it is.  Enjoy!

GODZILLA vs. MEGALON Radio Spot (Cinema Shares, 1976)

Godzilla King Of The Monsters MAGIC ROCKS (Craft House Corp., 1995)

 

Here's an ancillary item that was part of the wave of merchandise when the Trendmasters Godzilla era began in 1994-1995.  Several outside companies were allowed to use Trendmasters' "Style Guide," so you will see the Trendmasters Godzilla artwork and their KING OF THE MONSTERS logo on lots of other products from the times, from completely different companies (such as Craft House).  

Magic Rocks sets were nothing new of course, even at this time.  They were often smaller sets than this...but then again, this was Godzilla.  For this, they even gave you your own display tank to set everything up in...but the real star of the show here is the 3 & 1/2" Godzilla figure, which is a sculpt exclusive to this set.  They even provide you with a set of paints to fully customize him before his underwater adventure began.

We will take a much better look at him in a moment, but first, the other ingredients of this set...and how have they survived over the last 30 years? Have they aged well?

Well, yes and no....

INCLUDES: Display Tank, You-Know-Who, Instruction Sheet, Paints, Foil Insert (goes on bottom of tank), Magic Rocks, Magic Solution, Paintbrush

First off, the Magic Rocks are in amazingly good shape. I've seen cases where they'd become pulverized from time and rattling around. The paint set, however, was petrified.

And speaking of petrified, the "Magic Solution" packet was a large, misshapen, solid brick.  Instructions say it's "sodium silicate." I don't know what causes this reaction, but it was a surprise.

And now, here is a close-up of the cool Godzilla figure:

Note: the weird slot enables the Godzilla figure to attach to the bottom of the display base, which has a post built in.

Finally, here is a scan of the instruction sheet for what has to be one of the most unusual Godzilla collectibles of the 90's! 

YOG MONSTER FROM SPACE Theatre Solicitation Flyer (American International, 1971)

 

Here is another cool 2-sided flyer, this time for the classic YOG MONSTER FROM SPACE (which is now only known as SPACE AMOEBA). It's also printed on heavy, textured stock, but this time measuring slightly larger--in fact, it's 8 & 9/16 by 11 & 1/8 inches, just larger enough than a regular piece of paper to cause problems, which is weird.

Some people deride this movie, but I love it.  You'll also hear it called "the end of the Golden Age of Toho kaiju movies," and there is some truth to that I suppose.  I think it's a ton of fun.

The reverse side of the flyer gives us promotional photos and another complete synopsis that would of course spoil the film for the uninitiated! 

It should be mentioned here that YOG MONSTER FROM SPACE (You know, I always thought there should be a comma in there, but there isn't...note that on the back of the flyer, they use a dash to separate the title, but that's not on the poster either...hmmm....)

I got myself distracted there, but as I was saying: it should be mentioned here that YOG MONSTER FROM SPACE is another in the list of U.S. versions of Toho kaiju films that are being erased from existence.  The U.S. theatrical version--complete with U.S. titles and the wonderful AIP English dub--has ONLY ever been released on VHS a few times, and that's it.  It was also shown on TV back in the day of course.  So make sure that you keep your copy safe!

GODZILLA vs. THE SMOG MONSTER Theatre Solicitation Flyer (American International, 1972)

 

Here is a very nice and very rare piece.  This is a two-sided informational flyer that American International sent out to theatre owners in promotion of GODZILLA vs. THE SMOG MONSTER in 1972.  It is printed on heavy, textured paper that is pinkish in color, and measures 8.5 by 11 inches.

The back is reminiscent of the International flyers that Toho sent out at the time, which makes complete sense.  It has some great promotional photos, and gives a FULL synopsis of the movie (hence the "Not For Publication") that is almost so matter-of-fact, it nearly betrays the amazing psychotronic-ness of the film itself (which is one of my top 5 Godzilla films, by the way).  

I recently bought a small pile of lovely stuff like this, so there is much more to come; stay tuned!

Video Game Board Games [part 4]: PAC MAN MAGNETIC MAZE (Tomy, 1984)

 

While this one isn't technically a "board game," per se, it IS an attempt at replicating the arcade experience in a toy that you can enjoy in your own home! Also, this is simply one of the most unique games you will ever see (again from Japan, because of course), and it's worth a look just for that!

I am ashamed to admit that I had no knowledge of this as a kid, and I was completely obsessed and consumed with Pac-Man at that time.  I have no idea how it slipped by me, but I'd like to think it wasn't advertised very well, and flew completely under the radar! I would've eaten it up, though.

This game was made by Tomy (by the way, You Tube people, it is NOT pronounced "Tommy"), who brought tons of cool toys over to the U.S. during that time (think RUN YOURSELF RAGGED).  The idea is to recreate the experience of playing Pac-Man by using a joystick-controlled tilt-table, characters with roller-balls built in, and magnets! You read that right!

First off, here are the included characters:  Pac-Man, a blue ghost (Inky of course to us), and a red ghost (who we know as Blinky).  Each has a marble-sized metal ball-bearing underneath, allowing them to roll freely.  The fruit targets (which the instructions refer to as "Power Pills," here we go again...) also have large flat magnets beneath them.

The gameboard includes three metal wickets, like you would see in croquet.  One very cool thing about this game is that it is customizable, and you can place these metal wickets wherever you want.  The above configuration is what the instructions indicate.  Once you place these, you attach the fruit beneath them, where they are held on with the magnets.  

Next, set the timer.  This game would have been plenty of fun without it, but suddenly PERFECTION memories come flooding back!

Now, using the joystick, guide your Pac-Man along the maze, picking up the fruit targets and bringing them back to your home base area (where they are removed and placed in an area to the left of the joystick).  He has a magnet in his head, which will allow him to pick up the fruit! Try to keep going, and acquire all of the fruit, but don't let a ghost catch up or run into you (they have side magnets, which was a pretty devious touch)! It can be pretty challenging, especially with the timer running.

Here is what it looks like under the board--the yellow receptacle holds the center of the board, and is tilted around by the joystick.

Overall review: This game actually succeeds in recreating the mechanics of playing Pac-Man, but in your own home.  It shows how far companies were willing to go to do that very thing.  It also allows some customization, which can give you some different playing experiences (and I guess you don't always have to start everyone on their spaces if you don't want to).  If you are after one, hold out for one that is totally complete!

Lastly, here are the instructions for the game: